Marines rescue 66 people held at Mexico addiction center

Mexico City – Marines rescued 66 people being held against their will at an unlicensed drug rehabilitation center in the Mexican Gulf state of Veracruz and arrested eight people, the Navy Secretariat said.

The marines went to the Solo por Hoy Vivire facility in the city of Boca del Rio after receiving a tip from a citizen and found 20 women packed into a tiny room, the secretariat said.

A search of the building turned up 46 men who were locked in a cell, the secretariat said.

The operation also resulted in the seizure of 190 doses of cocaine and marijuana.

Gunmen working for drug cartels have staged a number of attacks in recent years on drug treatment centers.

On June 7, gunmen attacked the La Victoria drug rehabilitation center in Torreon, a city in the northern state of Coahuila, killing 13 people.

Gunmen attacked the Anexo de Liberacion y Adicciones treatment center last December in Ciudad Juarez, a border city in Chihuahua state that is considered Mexico's murder capital, killing three people and wounding seven others.

At least 10 armed men went into the clinic and opened fire, officials said.

Gunmen killed 18 people at a drug treatment center located two blocks from a police station and the Santa Fe international bridge in Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 3, 2009.

The attacks on rehab centers apparently target individuals who are using the facilities to sell drugs on rivals' turf, officials say.

Gunmen killed 13 people on Oct. 24 at a drug rehabilitation center in the northwestern border city of Tijuana.

The attack occurred at the El Camino treatment center in east Tijuana, which is in Baja California state.